


Cold Curry

by Miss_Romance_Lover



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:43:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7498146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Romance_Lover/pseuds/Miss_Romance_Lover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after the latest Aaron/Robert preview for Monday's episode (so spoilers if you haven't watched that). My take on what happens when Liv sets them up with beers and curry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Curry

The day after their latest ‘disagreement’, Liv had sneakily ordered a curry for two and set them up in the back room of the pub, even persuading Charity to pour out two pints and hand deliver them. Then she left them to it.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Aaron huffed, though he picked up his pint and took a sip.

“Fine,” Robert shrugged. “But seeing as we’re both here, why don’t I talk instead?”

The younger man sighed, examining the contents of the takeaway bags in front of them.

“Okay, I’ll take that as an invitation. I haven’t cheated on you, Aaron.”

His voice was so gentle and earnest that it made Aaron look at him properly for the first time since they had been left alone. “I know that.”

Robert was more than a bit surprised. “You do?”

“Well I realised that if you really wanted to go out on the pull, you’d have done it months ago when I was a proper mess instead of hanging round me like a bad smell.”

“Charming.”

“And then I thought,” Aaron continued, ignoring his remark. “If you weren’t doing that last night, then you must have been doing something dodgy. Otherwise why keep me in the dark?”

Robert looked away. 

“Right, what have you done?”

He rubbed a hand over his face, forcing himself to face his boyfriend’s gaze. “You’re not going to like it.”

“Robert, I don’t even know what it is yet but I already know I’m not gonna like it. Just get on with it.”

Gulping from his beer glass, Robert set it down on the table again and groaned as he braced himself for the inevitable fallout. “Ryan turned up demanding the money Liv promised him. He threatened me so I…tied him up and put him in the boot of my car.”

Now he’d said the words out loud he was aware that he sounded like a raving madman. This really was quite bad. And now Aaron was worryingly quiet.

Finally he responded, his voice oddly quiet. “Have you lost your mind?” 

Quite possibly, was all Robert could think.

“I know, I know,” he said, shaking his head. “I let him go though, he was fine. Turns out he was in a bit of trouble before all this and that’s what he needed the money for. He won’t come back now he’s got what he wanted.”

“Oh well that’s all right then!” Aaron bit back sarcastically. “Get real, will you? Of course he’ll be back. You stupid bloody idiot.”

Robert reached out to put an arm on his shoulder, trying to tell him that yes, he was right. He was all those things but he wanted to be better; for him. But Aaron batted him away, standing up to pace the length of the room. 

“You know, last year when you tied me up and threaten to shoot me I thought, okay here’s man who’s having some kind of breakdown. It’s the ‘coming out’ thing, it does crazy things to some people and I should know. That’s why I was able to get past it, because I knew you were scared and it wasn’t the real you. Or that’s what I thought. Maybe I was wrong and it was only ever a matter of time before you did it again.”

“No! That’s not who I am, I…” Robert was horrified, but it was no wonder Aaron had come to this conclusion. 

“You said you weren’t that man anymore and I believed you. But it’s like there’s two of you; two Roberts. There’s the one who hurts people and pulls stunts like this, and then there’s the other bloke. The one that got me through one of the worst times in my life and made me want to keep going.”

Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Robert’s mouth was twitching upwards at this admission.

“Don’t. Smile,” Aaron said, punctuating each word and looking furious. “I’m nowhere near finished yet.”

He changed his expression, even though the acknowledgement of what they’d faced together still lingered between them, warming his insides. Not that he’d forgotten what else had been mentioned; that day at the lodge still haunted him. 

“I do still think about it,” he told him before the other man could continue. “What I did to you. You’re right, I was scared. It’s no excuse, I know that. This thing with Ryan…I panicked. I was never going to hurt him; I just wanted to warn him off. And I’m sorry, not just for that but for everything.”

Aaron took one look at his face and realised that he believed him. “Okay. I can’t keep doing this, though.” 

“What?”

“This,” he gestured between them in frustration. “All. We do. Is argue! It drives me mad. I know I’m not the easiest person, but this one’s all on you.”

“Yeah, it is. Look, if Ryan does come back or the police charge me--”

“Then we’ll deal with it.”

“We?”

“Yes, we. Like I said though, I’ve had enough of going round in circles,” Aaron said pointedly. 

Robert nodded. “I promise it won’t always be like this.”

Aaron returned to sit down beside him. “It better not be.” He went to dig into the food again but a yawn escaped him before he could. 

“Long day?”

“Yeah. Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Cupping the younger man’s face, Robert could see the rings under Aaron’s eyes. “Me neither. I’m sorry.” 

Aaron closed his eyes under his touch, leaning in for a quick kiss. “We gonna eat this curry or what? Even though it’s probably gone cold.”

So they talked, and they ate. And when Liv came downstairs to listen outside the door she knew that even though there were still a few things that needed sorting, at least those two were going to be okay.


End file.
